Granice konstytucyjne instytucji kontrasygnaty aktów urzędowych Prezydenta RP

The subject of the analysis is the question of the limits of the countersignature of official acts of the President of the Republic of Poland. The considerations are made in the context of the institution of presidential announcement on vacant judicial positions in the Supreme Court of Poland and the Supreme Administrative Court of Poland. Firstly, the genesis and nature of the prerogatives of the head of state, the concept of prerogative powers against the background of the institution of countersignature, the substantive and formal limits of the countersignature, as well as the notion of the legal effect of the presidential official acts were discussed. Secondly, the question of the legal qualification of the presidential announcement was analysed and, based on it, the conclusion was drawn that the material limits of the institution of countersignature stand in the way of recognising the presidential announcement as a official act subject to countersignature. Next, the concept of instrumental sub-competences was proposed, which, as fragments of prerogative powers, include within their scope acts that depend on the underlying official act. In the final part of the study, fundamental arguments are presented in favour of adopting the view that the presidential announcement analysed is a sovereign official act which by its nature is not subject to countersignature.